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Post Game: They were simply the better team

BWahlberg

BWahlberg

Well-known member
DONOR
I think we’re in playoff mode or the typical doom cycle of this season recap but I did want to put up a few post game thoughts. I will have my scouting up on Tennessee State later today.

Tough loss for the Griz but I think a lot of us expected it. I held out hope, and had it my scouting even thinking somehow the Grizzlies could find a way. But as the game unraveled I think what most of us generally expected came through. The cats are just a better team, and not just in a few spots, but in just about every aspect. They controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides, they had the ability to take away what the offense wanted to do (I think), they executed well, they prepared better, and they sure seemed to be the better coached team yesterday.

Despite the doom and gloom though, I think there’s some things you need to lift from this game;

  1. There was a 17 point swing in the first half on three plays. Wilson has a near pick 6 that he can’t haul in, the next play Tommy finds paydirt. 14 point difference. Then the decision to go for it with 30 seconds left, Fife puts it too far in front of Ostmo, and the cats are able to turn that into a field goal. The Wilson pick would’ve been a tough one, he didn’t drop a tipped ball or a duck of a throw – but these few things really shifted the tides. Just a few different things happen and who knows, maybe it’s 10-7 or 10-14 at the half and then how are we feeling?
  2. I saw some posts the Grizzlies had no passion in this game and I was glad to see Rainey and others point out that’s not the case at all. A team without passion and desire to win, even in the face of real tough odds, doesn’t fight the way they did on defense most of the day. Lots of fans expected this defense to get wrecked early and often – they held their own. Yeah the Jones long dash broke their back, but by that point they were flat out gassed.
  3. I have no clue what the goal was on offense. Did MSU just take away what Montana wanted to do, or was that the actual plan? At some point the Griz had more throws behind the LOS than beyond it. That doesn’t get it done.
  4. What happened to decisive/quick cuts from the Grizzlies skill guys? Seemed like more often than not when our ball carriers had the ball in their hands they would dance/juke/delay rather than just cut and go. Is that being coached to them? I don’t really recall seeing that as much last year. It seems top to bottom as well, RBs/WRs, and not just 1 guy. The amount of hesitation in the face of that fast and mean MSU defense took vital yards off just about every drive.
I think everything else has kind of been said. This Griz team is who we thought they were, they’re in the playoffs but are in a tough spot now. I’m glad we get to cheer the guys on at least one more time. Yeah I’m bummed bc the regular season didn’t meet anyones expectations, but we can dissect that more in the weeks ahead. For now, it’s playoff time, let’s get after it Griz!



Go Griz!
 
I have no clue what the goal was on offense. Did MSU just take away what Montana wanted to do, or was that the actual plan? At some point the Griz had more throws behind the LOS than beyond it. That doesn’t get it done.

I couldn't agree more. Pease's play calling makes no sense to me.
 
I was baffled. MSU's defense reminded me of the Griz defense of last year, tough and very quick. What does Pease do? Go lateral most of the game to play into their speed. Very few times even testing the secondary deep. D played their hearts out so nothing against those guys. Onto the Fighting Eddie Georges
 
I was at the game and had pretty good seats. From my vantage point, the Griz played really hard. I also thought they played really clean-- didn't see a lot of cheap stuff and I appreciated that.

As to the game plan and and playcalling, I think the Cats' defense dictated a lot. They strung out most of Gilman's touches to the sideline and took away the middle of the field for the most part. The MSU secondary doesn't allow much separation, so very few catches on the outside resulted in YAC.

The one piece of the gameplan that I didn't get is why they didn't use Ostmo more in the early going. He was the most effective part of the offense and they really limited his touches.
 
Also, critical calls against such as Haydens offsides giving them a first down on 3 and 5 came at a critical time in their first td drive
 
Lord Vigo said:
I was at the game and had pretty good seats. From my vantage point, the Griz played really hard. I also thought they played really clean-- didn't see a lot of cheap stuff and I appreciated that.

As to the game plan and and playcalling, I think the Cats' defense dictated a lot. They strung out most of Gilman's touches to the sideline and took away the middle of the field for the most part. The MSU secondary doesn't allow much separation, so very few catches on the outside resulted in YAC.

The one piece of the gameplan that I didn't get is why they didn't use Ostmo more in the early going. He was the most effective part of the offense and they really limited his touches.
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Ostmo got dinged early by Orrt. He wasn't 100% the rest of the game.
 
grizzlygrumpa said:
Also, critical calls against such as Haydens offsides giving them a first down on 3 and 5 came at a critical time in their first td drive
Click to expand...
I'd say a big thing this year is that penalties have hurt the Griz all year

Has to be one of the most penalized Griz teams ever not sure why this year but it's not normal
 
I wish we would have went for an on side kick after scoring the td. The weather had turned to crap and cats had nobody up tight so looked like a prime time for one. as it turned out scats scored on that drive anyway so if it would have worked might have changed a little momentum.. also watching the game the worst missed penalty I saw was PI on us that did not get called.
 
The Cats secondary is under appreciated & for the most part Griz receivers weren't open. That gave the beasts up front enough time to pressure the qb. They've been really good at forcing the offense to go to shorter routes. I was surprised the Griz left the running game so soon, they were supposed to be a strong running team.
 
retiredpopo said:
I wish we would have went for an on side kick after scoring the td. The weather had turned to crap and cats had nobody up tight so looked like a prime time for one. as it turned out scats scored on that drive anyway so if it would have worked might have changed a little momentum.. also watching the game the worst missed penalty I saw was PI on us that did not get called.
Click to expand...

I thought in general the refs let them play and that was a good thing.
 
I think on hindsight, we lost a lot of talent to graduation last year: AJ Forbes, Chris Walker on the O line, Gubner at NT, Edward's @DE, Braxton Hill, Levi Jancarro, and Tyler Flink @ LB, and Garret Graves and Trejon Cotton @ Safety.

The talent that replaced them just hasn't fully developed yet or simply isn't there !!!

I am hoping MSU experiences something similar next year with the graduation of Tommy Mellott, Wehr, Green, etc. !!!
 
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